Police priorities for Bourne area set but public fail to support meeting

VILLAGERS have once again missed out on the opportunity to raise their issues with police officers.

Only three members of the public turned up at a meeting in Morton Village Hall on Monday to speak to representatives from Lincolnshire Police about their concerns.

The police have arranged forums every three months to discuss problems in Bourne and the surrounding villages, but have not been put off by the fact that this is the second time only a handful of people have turned up.

A meeting in Bourne in April had a similar response.

PC Jon Putnam from Bourne Police Station said: “There was a concern that the event wasn’t publicised very well.

“We would like to see more members of the public coming to join us at these events.

“We would love to see them turn up and tell us what their priorities are.”

Despite the low turn out, a few key issues were raised by the people that did turn up on Monday.

“We are trying our best to keep people up to date with things that are going on in the community.

“We are going to continue working at this as best we can.”

Members of the public were also concerned about people speeding through the villages of Billingborough, Morton and parts of Bourne, especially in 30mph areas.

On top of the priorities that the police are going to tackle over the summer is the issue of underage people drinking at the Wellhead in Bourne.

PC Putnam said: “These are all issues that we will be focusing on in the next few months.

“We will be looking at doing speed checks in the villages and will not publicise where we will be so that they are sporadic checks.

“We will also be increasing our patrols around the Wellhead over the summer.”

Another meeting will be arranged for October 17, but a location is yet to be arranged.

Police are hoping that with increased publicity people will come and join in.

PC Putnam said: “One way that we are trying to increase communication between members of the public and the police is through these forums, so we would encourage people to come along, meet members of the neighbourhood beats teams and have their say.”